Charlotte messenger. [volume] (Charlotte, Mecklenburg Co., N.C.) 1882-18??, 1887-10-15

uIbb 70 CIVIL uDefgy ana atoerWatu 70
religious freedom Yea, may 60 further
back and say it was persecution that gave the
world the salvation Of the Gospel. The ribald
mockery, the hungering and thirsting the I'M
just trial and ignominious death where all the
forces ofhell's furywas hurled against the cross
was the introduction of that religion which
Is yet to be the earth's deliverance from guilt
and suffering and her everlasting enthrone-
ment among the municipalities of heaven.
The State has sometimes said to the Church:
"Come, letme take your hand and will help
you." What has been the resultl The Church
has gone back and has lost its estate of
holiness and has become ineffective. At
other times the State has said to the Church:
~ will crush your What has been the re-
suit After the storms have spent their fury,
the church, SO far from having lost my Of its
force, has increased, and Is worth infinitely
more after the assault than before it. The
church is far more indebted to the opposition
Of civil government than to its approval
The fires of the stake have only been
the torches which Christ held in His
hand, by the light of which the church has
marched to her present position. In the
sound of racks and implements Of torture l
hear herumbling of the wheels OF the Gospel
chariot. Scaffolds Of martyrdom have been
the stairs by which the church has assembled
Aqua FORTS is the best test Of pure gold.
Furthermore, our subject impresses us that
sins will come to exposure. Long, long ago
had these brothers sold Joseph into Egypt.
They had suppressed the crime, and it was
profound secret well kept by the brothers.
But suddenly the secret is out The old
father hears that his son is in Egypt, having
been sold there by the malice OF his
own brothers. How their cheeks must
have burned and their hearts sunk
at the flaming out of this sup
pressed crime. Ting smallest iniquity has
a thousand tongues, and they viii blab out an
exposure. Saul was sent to destroy the
Canaanites, their sheep and the oxen. But
when he got down there among the pastures
he saw some fine sheep and oxen too fat to
kill, and SO he thought he would steal them.
He drove them toward home, but stopped
to report to the prophet how well he had
executed his commission, when in the dis
lance the sheep began to bleat and the oxen
to below. The secret was out and Samuel
said to the blushing and COMPOUNDED Saul:
"What means the bleating of the sheep that
hear and the lowing of the cattle9" Aye, my
hearers, you cannot keep an iniquity quiet
At just the wrong time the sheep will
| bleat and the oxen will below Achan can
| getting stoned to death, nor Benedict Arnold
betray his country without being execrated
for all time. Look over the police arrests,
these thieves, these burglars, these adulterers,
these counterfeiters, these highwaymen,
these assassins. They all thought
deep down that it would never come to resur-
rection. But there was some shoe that an
swered to the print in the sand, some false
keys found in possession, some bloody knife
that whispered OF the deed, and the pub
lie indignation, and the anathema of
outraged law hurled him into the Tombs
or hoisted him on the gallows. At the close
] OF the battle between the Dauphin of France
and the Helvetians, Burchard Monk was so
eiated with the victory that he lifted his
helmet to look off upon the field, when
wounded soldier hurled a stone that struck
his uncovered forehead and he fell. Sin will
always leave some spot exposed, and there is
no safety in iniquity. Francis the
First, King of France, was discussing how it
was best to get his army into Italy. Amaril,
the court fool, sprang out from the corner
! and said to the king and his staff officers:
"You had better be thinking how you will
get your army back out of Italy after once
you have entered" In other words, it iseasier
for us to get into sin than to get out
OF it. Whitefield was riding on horseback in
a lonely way with some missionary money in
a sack fastened to the saddle bags. A high
wayman sprang out from the thicket and put
his hand out toward the gold, when White
field turned upon him and said That belongs
to the Lord Jesus Christ, touch it if you dare,n
and the villain fell back empty handed into
| the th1cket. Oh, the power of conscience
/ If offended, it becomes Gods avenging minis
| ter Do not think that you can hide any
| great and protracted sin in your hearts In
an unguarded moment it will slip off the lip,
or some slight occasion may for a moment
set ajar this door of hell that you wanted to
keep closed. But suppose that in
this life you hide it, and you get along with
that transgression burning in your heart, as a
ship on fire within for days may hiuder the
lame from breaking out by keeping down the
hatchways, yet at last, in the Judgment, that
iniquity will blaze out before the throne of
God and the universe.
Furthermore learn from this subject the
inseparable connection between all events
however remote. Lord Hastings was be-
headed one year after he had caused the death
Of the Queens children, in the very month,
the very day, the very hour and the very mo-
ment. There is wonderful precision in
the Divine judgments. The universe is
only one thought of God. Those
things which seem fragmentary and
isolated are only different parts Of that
| one great thought. How far apart seemed
these two events--Joseph sold to the
Arabian merchants and the rulership of
| Egypt. Yet you see in what mysterious
way God connected the two in one plan. So
all events are linked together. You
who are aged can look back and
| group together thousand things in
your life that once seemed isolated.
One undivided chain of events reached from
the Garden of Eden to the cross Of Calvary.
and thus up to heaven. There is a relation
between the smallest insect that huns in the
summer air and the archangel on his
| throne. God con trace direct ancestral
line from the blue jay that last spring
built its nest in tree behind the house
to some one Of that flock of birds, which.
when Noah hoisted the ark's window, with
whirr and dash Of bright wings went out to
sing over Mount Ararat The tulips that
bloomed this summer in the hower-bed were
nursed OF last winters snow-flakes. The fur
| therest star on one side the uniye 50 could not
look to the furtherest star on the other
side and say: "You are no relation to me: y
for from that bright orb a voice Of light
| would ring across the heavens responding:
Yes, yes; we are sisters Sir Sidney Smith
in prison was playing lawn tennis in the
yard and the ball few over the wall Another
ball containing letters was thrown back,
and so communication was opened with
/, the outside world, and Sir Sidney escaped
in time to defeat Bonaparte's Egyptian sx-
petition. What small incident connected
with what vast RESULT Sir I.obert Peel from
pattern he drew on the back of q pewter
dinner plate got the suggestions OF that
which led TO the important inven-
ton by which calico is printed. Moth
ing in Gods universe swings at loose
ends. Accidents are only Gods way
| Of fUrninO "A laaf In the I.,ol- - -. .k...-.lt